Astronomers discover how long-lived Peter Pan discs evolve

New research from scientists at Queen Mary University of London has revealed how long-lived Peter Pan discs form, which could provide new insights into how planets arise. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-06-astronomers-long-lived-peter-pan-discs.html…

Anisotropy of spin-lattice relaxations in molecular magnets

Scientists from IFJ PAN in cooperation with researchers from the Nara Women’s University (Japan) and the Jagiellonian University (Poland) took another important step towards building a functional quantum computer. Using material containing terbium ions and dedicated experimental tools, they performed a detailed analysis of dynamic magnetic properties in individual molecular magnets concerning their orientation in a magnetic field. Discovered strong anisotropy…

No Cookie Consent Walls — and No, Scrolling Isn’t Consent, Says EU Data Protection Body

You can’t make access to your website’s content dependent on a visitor agreeing that you can process their data — aka a ‘consent cookie wall.’ Not if you need to be compliant with European data protection law. From a report: That’s the unambiguous message from the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), which has published updated guidelines on the rules around online…

QEMU Version 5.0.0 Released

The developers of the open-source QEMU (Quick EMUlator) emulator, which can run programs on various architectures such as ARM and RISC-V, have released version 5.0. Slashdot reader syn3rg writes: Hot on the heels of the 4.0 release (from a major release perspective), the QEMU team has released version 5.0. This version has many changes, including: Live migration support for external processes…

Are these 19 eccentric asteroids from other star systems?

In the first discovery of its kind, researchers in France have found 19 asteroids in our solar system – between the planets Jupiter and Neptune – that they say are likely of interstellar origin. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/19-interstellar-asteroids-in-our-solar-system-centaurs…

Facing Criticism, Germany Switches to Google/Apple’s Decentralized Contact Tracing

“Germany changed course on Sunday over which type of smartphone technology it wanted to use to trace coronavirus infections,” reports Reuters, “backing an approach supported by Apple and Google along with a growing number of other European countries.” Chancellery Minister Helge Braun and Health Minister Jens Spahn said in a joint statement that Berlin would adopt a “decentralised” approach to digital…

An eclipsing binary millisecond pulsar discovered by FAST

Using the data obtained by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), a research team led by Prof. Pan Zhichen and Prof. Li Di from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) discovered an eclipsing binary millisecond pulsar in Globular Cluster (GC) Messier 92 (M92). Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-04-eclipsing-binary-millisecond-pulsar-fast.html…

Is ‘Oumuamua a fragment of a shattered super-Earth?

Computer simulations confirm that ‘Oumuamua – an object from another star system that sped near our sun in 2017 – likely formed via a close encounter with its star. ‘Oumuamua may have originated in a debris disk, they said, or even a shattered super-Earth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-formation-theory-interstellar-object-oumuamua…

Italy Working On Coronavirus Tracing App To Help Lockdown Exit

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Italian authorities are working on introducing a smartphone app that would help health services trace the contacts of people who test positive for the coronavirus as the government looks at ways of gradually lifting a lockdown imposed a month ago. Innovation minister Paola Pisano acknowledged that launching the app would raise major issues…

Bill Gates To Spend Billions on Coronavirus Vaccine Development

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said his foundation will spend billions of dollars to fund the construction of factories for the most promising efforts to develop a vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus. From a report: Mr. Gates, a billionaire philanthropist who is one the richest people in the world, said the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will work with seven makers…